Construction on a medical building off Hwy. 7 in Minnetonka is expected to start around Sept. 1 after it was approved last week.
Mark Davis of Davis Real Estate Services Group proposed tearing down four houses and three businesses for a 68,600-square-foot, two-story building housing North Memorial Clinic, a pharmacy, urgency care facility and specialty care providers. Residents launched a website and packed city meetings, saying it was too drastic a change for their residential neighborhood and that it would increase traffic and alter the character.
Their input was heard.
Davis returned to the City Council last week with a scaled-down plan that was approved in a 5-1 vote. It increased the buffer between the homes and the building, moved it further from Highwood Drive and reduced the size to 64,000 square feet.
While that's still larger than what residents wanted, resident Molly Ekstrand told the City Council last week, "we believe we found a reasonable solution."
KELLY SMITH @kellystrib
